The doctors and nurses in the emergency room at Florida Regional Hospital often deal with death and tragedy.

But on Saturday they had to deal with the death on one of their own.

Dr. David Briones, 57, was killed early Saturday when he was struck by a wrong-way driver around 1:50 a.m. on State Road 417 near Red Bug Lake Road in Seminole County. Noel Alvarado, 31, was driving a 1997 Nissan Sentra the wrong way as he was traveling northbound in the southbound lane of 417 when he struck Briones' vehicle, which was headed south.

Briones was on his way home from a 10-hour shift in the emergency room, where he had worked for 11 years, said Dr. James Snyder, medical director of emergency services.

Much like dealing with other deaths in the ER, doctors and nurses just have to keep going with the care of the patients the top priority.

"Dr. Briones will be in the back of our minds for a long, long time," said Snyder. "In our off time we can sit around and talk about him. While we're here he would want us to what we do, and that is to take care of the patients."

Briones leaves behind a wife and two high school-aged sons, Snyder said. He liked to play golf and had a keen sense of trivia when it came to old movies and music, Snyder said.

On a professional level, he was skilled in handling the chaos that emergency rooms can bring.

"Dr. Briones maintained an even keel," said Snyder. "It can be frustrating in emergency rooms. It can be stressful. He was very good and very quick in what he did. He didn't mess around. He got to business and got it taken care of."

Wendy H. Brandon, CEO of the hospital, said everyone was "deeply saddened."

"Dr. Briones worked as an emergency physician at Central Florida Regional Hospital in Sanford for 11 years, touching the lives of thousands of patients and family members as well as his fellow team members," she said in a statement.

Snyder said Briones is irreplaceable and leaves a long standing legacy.

"His legacy here is one of quality care, compassionate care, expeditious care and we were so proud to have him at our facility," Snyder said. "I can't express how much we will miss him."